Spotlight on Black-Owned Businesses
Little Rock’s Mumford and Associates stands out as a business for a number of reasons, the first being the unique services it offers.
Mumford and Associates is a public health education and consulting firm that provides health education and promotion to individuals, groups, organizations and communities in and around Central Arkansas.
The second reason the firm stands out is its status as a minority- and female-led business. But, the drive behind and future success of the health consulting firm is not to be underestimated, thanks to its dedicated leader.
Quinyatta “Q” Mumford is a certified health education specialist and the founder of Mumford and Associates. She has more than 15 years of public health experience and is section chief of the Office of Rural Health and Primary Care for the Arkansas Department of Health. She was named a National Rural Health Association (NRHA) partner in 2022.
However, it is her lived experiences that drive the development of the firm.
The company started with the recent body positivity movement (or “curvy consciousness movement,” as Mumford likes to call it), because she wanted to encourage women to embrace their curves and their health.
For those averse to social media and thus not aware of the body positivity movement, it is a worldwide social movement focusing on equality and acceptance for all body types and sizes. And it has exploded in popularity in recent years. One of the goals of the movement is to challenge how society, particularly all forms of media, presents and views the physical human body.
Mumford inspires her clients with her personal testimony of losing more than half of her body weight.
In 2020, Mumford took in her nephew who was battling mental illness. This led to the business’ most recent “Youth Mental Health First Aid” initiative, which in 2021 led Mumford and Associates to set out to train 100 “mental health first aiders.” As the need for more of them continues to grow with the pandemic and increasing violent crimes in Little Rock, the goal for 2022 is to triple the 2021 goal by reaching more youth-serving organizations.
In addition to youth mental-health first aid, Mumford and Associates also offers adult mental-health first aid along with disease-specific health education and promotion services. However, being a minority-owned business comes with its own unique challenges, as well.
“As a minority-owned business, I have found it very difficult to secure capital to expand,” said Mumford. “Consequently, the business is 100 percent self-funded, which makes for scaling challenges.”
That’s where Mumford’s patented brand of positivity works to her advantage. She continually finds new ways to make her goals, and those of her clients, a reality.
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